Chirnside Park and Lilydale are where Melbourne's eastern suburbs finally loosen their grip, and the hills of the Yarra Ranges start to rise on the horizon. It is a pleasant place to end a day in the Yarra Valley, with the road coming down out of the green hills, past paddocks and vineyards, to a belt of shopping strips and roundabouts. Lilydale is a proper town of sixteen thousand, with a lake, a railway line to the city and plenty of everything a tired rider needs.
The valley behind you is cool-climate wine country, and the vines here are mostly chardonnay and pinot noir, planted on the gentle slopes either side of the Yarra River. Many cellar doors are open for tastings, and for a rider the better plan is to buy a bottle and drink it later. Healesville, at the top end, has a wildlife sanctuary where you can see platypus, wombats and Tasmanian devils, and just beyond it lies the Black Spur, a winding stretch of the Maroondah Highway through towering mountain ash, the tallest flowering trees on Earth. The road there is shaded and damp, with tight bends and a surface that can be greasy, particularly after rain or in the early morning.
By the time you reach Chirnside Park the character has gone suburban, but you can still see the Dandenong Ranges to the south and the dark line of the hills behind. The roads out of the valley fill up on Sunday afternoon with day trippers, so patience helps. Speed cameras are common and fines are heavy in Victoria, so keep to the limits.
Fuel is easy here, and so is coffee. Lilydale has a main street of cafes and bakeries, and the shopping centres at Chirnside Park have large car parks and plenty of food. Water and a short rest are available at the lake, where locals walk their dogs in the late afternoon.
Weather in this part of Victoria can change fast. A warm morning may become a wet afternoon, and the saying about four seasons in one day applies fully. Pack a rain layer, and take a little care at dusk, when kangaroos and wallabies come out to feed along the verges.